Eidra stood beside Corrine with her hands on her hips waiting for Sally to stop laughing. "Are you quite finished?"

"Eidra," She gasped, "Certainly ye can't be serious."

"I am." Eidra pulled the stool in closer to Corrine's side and sat down.

"I would much rather stay home than go to the reel without ye and certainly not with Chris."

She listened to the milk stream into the pail, "But I do not want to go and I do not want to keep you from going."

"What if Loki is going to be there?" Sally was in Brenna's stall petting Magnus.

"And what if he is. All the more reason for me to stay home." She moved the pail slightly to sit under the next set of teats. "Perhaps Chris would not pester you so if you paid him a little attention from time to time."

Sally had walked over to Eidra and was watching her, "And when the sky falls, we'd all catch lots. I'm of the opinion that it would be a hundred times worse if I were to show even the merest glimmer of hope to him."

Eidra sighed, she was sure that Loki was having much better luck with Chris at this moment.

"And why are ye so hot to have me while away a few hours with that old tomcat anyhow?"

Eidra rose from the stool and picked up the pail, "I told you, I feel like staying home and I do not wish to stop you from going, if that be a crime, to see that my friend has a good time, than I am guilty."

"I don't know, ye've got that look in yer eye."

The milk sloshed in the pail as they walked the path to the cottage and she had to slow down a bit, "I have nothing of the sort. Honestly, Sal, it is as if you do not trust me."

She turned her head to see Sally peering at her through narrowed eyes and she was barely able to contain her laughter, "Must you look at me like that?"

Sally put her hand on her chin, "Ye are up to something."

"And you imagine things."

Sally swung the door open for Eidra, "We will see who's imagining what."

Loki pulled on the rope with all his might until the deer's carcass finally hovered over the floor of the barn. He tied it then to a nearby post. "Now to let it hang for a couple of days."

He walked to his horse, untied the two rabbits from the pommel of the saddle and handed them to Chris. "We shall keep one for this evening's meal. I shall bring the other one out to Eidra and Sally, does that suit you?"

Chris waved at him, "Go on, with my blessings, I shall rest. When you return I shall have a rabbit stew on the fire."

"I will make all due haste." Loki mounted his horse as Chris slapped its flank.

"What a liar you are," he laughed at Loki's sly smile, "Go on with you."

Eidra walked out to the barn with Loki, standing and watching him as he lay the rabbit on a plank board table shoved into the corner of the barn for gardening. He withdrew his dagger from his thigh holster, giving Eidra a strange twinge that was swiftly gone as he began to make the cuts in preparation to skin the creature.

"Sally is unwilling to leave me alone next evening. I dare not push the issue lest she figure out what I am up to."

Loki made one clean slice across the neck, separating the head from the body, "I fail to see why we do not simply explain to her that we wish to spend time together."

"Then she will start to ask questions I do not wish give a straight answer to." She looked away as Loki stripped the skin from the body.

"What questions?"

Eidra twisted the toe of her slipper in the dirt, "She will ask to what purpose we need the time."

Loki stole a glance at her, "And what would you say?"

"I confess I know not what." He felt her lean her forehead against his back and he closed his eyes for a moment, basking in the closeness, but too soon had to turn around, "I need a wide board, some nails and a mallet if I am to stretch this skin out." As Eidra searched about the barn, he scrapped down the inside of the skin as best he could with his dagger.

She soon returned with a leather pouch full of nails and a plank, setting them down on the table beside him. He started to stretch and secure the skin to the plank.

"Nor do I."

"Well I must think of something." She reached over and stroked the rabbit's fur.

"What will you use the skin for?" He asked as he watched her fingers sink into the pelt.

"Lining for slippers, mittens. Would you like lined mittens?"

He shook his head, "The pelt is for you to do with as you wish."

She looked behind her through the barn door to the cottage, "Will you stay for the evening meal?"

"I cannot, Chris is making stew and I told him I would sup with him tonight."

He set the plank high on the barn wall, "In a few days I shall cure it."

They started back for the cottage, "I will try my best to think of something."

Loki chuckled, "Chris will be at your doorstep ready to whisk her away in any case. Perhaps you should prepare her instead."

She put her hand to her mouth, "This will be most interesting."

"Indeed."

They rode at a slow pace down the road, Chris checking his tunic and vest for the tenth time. "Do you think she will find me suitable?"

"You have dressed in your best set of clothes, you have bathed thoroughly, shined your boots, trimmed your beard, what more could she ask for?"

Chris eyed him, "And you have done the same, look at you, clean shaven, your hair pulled back, dressed in your finest. Maybe 'tis a good choice to stay close to the hearth. There would be women looking for your arm all evening."

"I will stay well away, believe me."

"And what have you planned for the evening then?" Chris leaned over and poked him in the arm.

"Nothing other than sharing one another's company."

"She has invited you over to an empty cottage for an unspecified amount of time and the only thing you think about sharing is company?"

"I told you, Chris, I will not jeopardize our budding relationship."

"Well," Chris broke into a trot, "Fortunately, I have no such compunctions."

They dismounted just outside the dooryard and hitched their horses to the post. "Well, my boy." Chris straightened his vest once more, "We either go home tonight together or separate."

They walked up the flagstone path, Loki reaching for the iron ring to knock but the door opened before he could touch it and Eidra stepped out.

"Sally will be out in a few minutes." She told Chris who grinned from ear to ear, took Eidra's hand and kissed it,

"My dear, I shall be forever in your debt."

Loki gave her a curious look but she put her finger to her lips.

Moments later, Sally stepped through the doorway. Her graying hair had been put up in a chignon and tied with a red ribbon, she had donned a butter yellow dress with a red sash around her waist, and a bodice embroidered in brightly colored flowers and vines. A pair of dainty satin red slippers finished off the ensemble. The only difference was her countenance. She looked resigned to her fate.

"Sally, my dear, you are a vision." Chris bowed low to the ground, one leg extended.

"Thank ye," she said through clenched teeth, "Eidra, are ye sure ye don't want to come with us?"

"I am sure," Eidra nodded.

"Very well, let's get a move on." Sally took Chris's extended arm and they started down the walkway, stopping suddenly when Sally realized Loki was not following, she turned back and stared at Eidra with an open mouth, began to speak but Chris was steering her forward.

"Sally, allow me to explain whilst we walk."

"But..but.." She stammered as they reached the road.

"But, we have the whole night ahead of us, my dear, come along."

Eidra had her hands to her mouth, hopelessly lost in a fit of giggles. "Did you see her face when she realized you were staying here with me? She shall be madder than a wet hen when she returns."

Loki grinned, his arms folded. "I feel for Chris. He will have his hands full tonight."

She walked to the fire and swung the kettle over it. "We shall have tea. I have some wonderful lavender and chamomile that I harvested this summer."

He nodded, "Industrious creature you are."

She waved to the rocking chairs, "Sit, we will wait for the water to boil."

When they were both seated, he glanced down at the basket beside her chair. "You might knit if you like."

She tilted her head and gave him a half smile, "Knit? Well I suppose, I do not wish to seem rude."

He smiled, "You will not."

She shrugged, picked up the ball of yarn, pulled her needles out of it and started to knit, watching him out of the corner of her eye. He had turned sideways, gazing at her as she worked the needles, a beatific smile upon his face.

"What are you thinking?" She murmured.

"That all is right with the world now."

She shook her head, "I sense the familiar here."

"Many evenings we would sit like this and talk, and you would knit."

She looked at him, "They were happy times for you?"

He locked eyes with hers, "The happiest in my life."

She laid her knitting in her lap then, staring into the fire, "I am sorry Loki."

"For what?"

"For forgetting. I want to remember, I do."

"You do?" He reached over and put his hand on the arm of her chair.

"Yes, do you think I shall?"

"I fervently hope so."

The whistle of the kettle made her put the knitting down, "Loki, will you fetch two mugs?"

Loki walked to the cupboard, opened the small door and took down two mugs. The flare of the candle in the sconce on the wall beside him illuminated something far back inside the cupboard that made his heart skip a beat. He pulled out a pair of yellowed dice and walked to the table where Eidra had sat at one corner with the kettle and a couple of linen parcels of tea.

He set the mugs down and took his seat, holding out the dice to her. "I saw these in the cupboard."

"I have not touched them in so long. I had them with me when I came here. I used to play games with my father in Alfheim."

"Show me."

He put them on the table and waited.

"We need a piece of parchment and a quill to keep score but the object is to roll the die and keep adding up your points." Her voice trailed off and she turned her head slow, to stare into the fire then continued, softer, "You may stop at any time and let the other player go for if you roll a one, you lose your points. It is a game of chance."

She blinked, put her hand to her forehead, "I have said these words before."

"To me." He put his hand atop hers as they lay over the dice and she jumped. "This game led to our first kiss."

She turned to look at him, her bottom lip trembling, "I am trying to see."

He leaned forward, the memories rushing over him, inciting his senses, "Will you allow me to help you?"

She could only nod, mute, her eyes fluttered closed as his lips touched hers. It was as if time had reversed itself. He was momentarily lost, unable to move, the shock of touching her again, kissing her, drawing forth a sob from the depths of his very soul. He brought his hands up to cup her face, relishing the warmth of her skin, the slip of her tongue over his bottom lip to grapple with his own, the sounds, the contented hum, the kiss deepening, taking their breath, drawing them closer together and

all at once, her eyes flew open.

She backed away from him, her hand out before her, she swallowed dryly, "I saw you."

Her voice was high, tense. "Just like this, in front of a huge fireplace, and there was a large bed," She pointed to her right, "Over here. A long terrace, marble columns."

She shook her head, "You were not dressed as a servant."

"Nor were you." He said, trying to keep his voice steady.

She looked down at herself as if it would be possible to see what she had been wearing, "I do not know where I was, I did not recognize it."

"You were in Asgard, in the palace." He made to take her hand but stopped.

"How could I kiss someone and yet I cannot remember them?"

Loki put his head in his hands, "I confess this is what plagues me the most. How could you not remember me, yet the visions of our life appear before you unbidden?"

He could see the tears standing in her eyes, "Perhaps I am cursed as Sally is."

He did take her hands then, held them in his own over the table, "If that is so, I will find a way to break it, to make you see that you loved me once."

"Perhaps I could again."

To his surprise, she leaned to him again and caught his mouth in another kiss, her hands squeezing his tightly with a whimper that brought tears to his eyes. She backed away from him then, gently. "Tell me more about us."

They spent that evening sitting beside each other in the chairs before the fire, her hand clasped in his as he tried to help her to remember. He told her of Helgi, how she had treated her like a daughter, Silas, the boy who was equally dedicated to her.

"Was I such a good person to deserve such loyalty?"

He nodded, "You were so innocent."

She'd shoved him playfully, "And am I not now?"

"Of course."

She could hear the mirth in his voice and she looked at him, "Why do I not believe you?"

He had convinced her finally to play the dice game and it had brought forth another evening that they had spent together.

She stared at the dice in her hand, "I see a young boy dressed in a short tunic, breeches. He has a roundish face, dark blue eyes, red hair.."

"Silas,"

"What was he?"

Loki looked at her, "What was he?"

"What did he do then?"
"Oh, he was a houseboy."

"For whom?"

He stopped, pondering what he should say then. Should he tell her, try to convince her of who he was or would it only serve to scare her?

"For me."

"A servant for a servant?"

"Do you believe I was only a servant?"

She was silent then, "No. I still cannot recall but I know you were not a servant. I could see it."

He was about to expound on it when they heard voices approaching the door and they let go of each others hand as it swung open.

To Loki's surprise, Sally and Chris were both smiles as they walked into the cottage.

"My dear lady, I had a delightful evening." Chris bowed to her and she curtsied back.

"As did I."

They looked to Loki and Eidra who were staring boldfaced at them.

"What?" Chris put his hands out.

"Nothing," Loki stood, offered his hand to Eidra who took it and rose from her chair with him.

"Very well then, shall we point ourselves in the direction of home?"

Loki nodded, "Give me a moment to take my leave of Eidra."

Chris smiled and turned to Sally, "And I shall do likewise."

Loki opened the door to the cottage and stepped out into the darkness with Eidra close behind. Once outside, without the table to divide them, they came together against the outer wall of the cottage, their kiss taking on a new ardor, she putting her hands upon his shoulders as she moaned into his mouth. He would have thought he had a steel resolve before this but his growing passion caused him to push her abruptly from him.

"Forgive me Eidra," He whispered, "You inflame me so that I dare not continue in such a manner."

She gave a short giggle and a nod, nuzzling his throat with the bridge of her nose. "Then until we meet again," She kissed his chin and backed away from him, Chris opening the door seconds later.

"Loki, my boy," Chris held a lantern in his hand, "Eidra," He bowed. "We bid you good night."

Loki watched the lantern sway back and forth as they walked the horses down the road out of the village. "Did you truly have a delightful evening?"

Chris laughed, "Yes indeed. I know not what Eidra did to put her in such a tractable mood but she must do it more often. And what of you? Did your evening go as planned?"

Loki caught the innuendo in Chris's question. "It went as I planned, perhaps not as you imagined."

"Ah well, did you enjoy yourself then?"

"I did, Chris, and I thank you."

"What's to thank me for. I daresay this evening was a success on all counts. I was able to spend some time in pleasant dance with my beloved and you were able to waste a few hours, in my opinion, in idle chatter. Now to home, a cup of cider and a soft bed, alone, alas but all good things take time."

Loki nodded, a grin on his face, "Indeed they do."